92% of Students and 79% of Faculty Actively Engaging with AI: Findings from AI in Higher Education LATAM Survey 2026

AI adoption in Latin American higher education is already widespread, with 92% of students and 79% of faculty actively engaging with AI, according to the Digital Education Council AI in Higher Education Latin America Survey 2026.

• 94% of faculty expect to use AI in future teaching practices.
• 61% of students fear AI misuse by peers, raising concerns around fairness and academic integrity.
• 50% of students support AI-assisted feedback on assignments, but only 19% of faculty currently use AI this way.

With AI widely used across Latin American higher education, attention is now firmly on how institutions are making deliberate, consistent decisions about how AI shapes teaching and assessment.

Gathering over 30,000 responses from 29 higher education institutions across LATAM, the survey is positioned among the largest regional evidence-based studies of its kind.

The survey findings show that AI adoption in teaching is not generational. 94% of faculty expect to use AI in future teaching practices, with attitudes and expectations consistent across years of teaching experience.

Our research reveals that the Latin American market is quite advanced in the AI adoption curve, with 92% of students and 79% of faculty actively engaging with AI, rates that would seem to surpass the global trends identified in our previous survey work. This challenges assumptions about adoptions in markets that might not be considered to be leading the development of commercial AI models in the way that the United States and China appear to be.

In collaboration with Tecnológico de Monterrey and Institute for the Future of Education, the Digital Education Council AI in Higher Education Latin America Survey 2026 represents a major regional research effort, building on the Council’s previous global studies — the Global AI Student Survey 2024 and Global AI Faculty Survey 2025.

Faculty adoption is accelerating, though still trailing student use. 79% of faculty report using AI in their teaching, and looking ahead, 76% expect AI to bring significant to transformative changes to how they teach. Fears of job displacement remain limited, with only 12% viewing AI as a threat to their role.

“Artificial intelligence opens up significant opportunities for higher education, but it also raises ethical, pedagogical, and human tensions,” said Paula Aguirre, Vice-President for Digital Intelligence at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, a participating institution.

Institutional AI integration stands at a weak point. Only 30% of students say their institution’s current use of AI meets their expectations. 54% report disappointment if AI were to be prohibited entirely.

While 50% of students support instructors using AI to provide feedback on assignments, only 19% of faculty currently do so, emphasising a disconnect between expectations and implementation.

“Teachers’ and students’ perspectives on the use of AI — particularly in areas such as feedback and assessment — offer valuable evidence to inform education policy, institutional guidelines, and the development of new educational technologies,” said Hector G. Ceballos, Head of the Living Lab and Data Hub at the Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnológico de Monterrey.

“What the data shows is not resistance from educators, but the need for institutional clarity,” concluded Alessandro Di Lullo, CEO of the Digital Education Council. “Faculty and students are already using AI. The question now is whether institutions are making deliberate decisions about how AI fits into teaching, assessment, and academic standards.”

The report is delivered in partnership with the Institute for the Future of Education and Tecnológico de Monterrey, with outreach supported by AI Global Education Network (AIGEN) and the Educational Innovation Network (RIE360).

The report, available in both English and Spanish, is available for public download here.

DEC Members can access the report and briefing by logging in to the DEC Member Area.

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